Doug Davidson Talks Taking ‘The Young And The Restless’ For Granted
The Young and the Restless star Doug Davidson portrays Genoa City Police Chief Paul Williams, and he’s been with the show for more than four decades. Last year when writer inexplicably wrote Paul out of storylines with no explanation, fans reacted with outrage. However, with the recent regime change at the helm of the show, Paul and Davidson are right back where they belong.
Recently, the actor spoke with Soap Opera Digest about his long and storied history with Y&R. He told the magazine, “Taking the show for granted would have happened pretty early on in my career when I was feeling my oats. In fact,” he laughed, “if you would take that young Doug and give him the script that I’m working on now, I think he would have collapsed! At that time, I didn’t think I’d still be here all these years later. But at the same time, there was a part of me that really thought the environment that Bill Bell created would be around forever! I’m just glad that I was able to express my appreciation to Bill before he left the show.”
Just last week, head writer Josh Griffith along with Davidson and his on-screen wife Lauralee Bell (Christine) delighted fans with a beautiful, simple picnic scene where the two enjoyed some downtime in Chancellor Park, according to The Inquisitr. It’s the type of moment that does not happen that often these days, but it resonated with the viewers. According to Davidson, during the scene, the grass left his pants damp. Bell also chimed in about how the scene was her favorite in recent history. She did admit, though, that every scene with her GC husband is excellent.
Last week, Davidson and Bell also hosted a Facebook live on the show’s official page during which they answered fan questions, and it was another reminder of all that Paul means to the fabric of Y&R.
Shortly after Griffith returned to the head writer position, Paul returned to the storylines with no explanation for his prolonged lack of scenes on the show, and it was like he’d never been gone. Except, of course, fans remembered his glaring absence, and his co-stars like Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) and Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman) spoke out often about what a poor choice excluding Davidson from the storylines was for those in charge at Sony and CBS. Hopefully, Davidson will be Paul for many years to come. He certainly doesn’t take anything for granted at this point in his legendary career. Bill Bell’s creation lives on in daytime as the number one rated drama.
